


Pen and Paper

by Pythonmelon



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5479013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pythonmelon/pseuds/Pythonmelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another drabble prompt, Oggie sticks his nose where it shouldn't go</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pen and Paper

Oggie struggled to make out the words before him. He knew he shouldn’t be invading Maxim’s privacy, but the jaeger just ached with wonder. He had spotted his friend writing in this notebook almost a week ago, and commended himself for holding back and allowing worms of curiosity to eat away at his guts this long.   
Maxim writing actually did not surprise him. The slightly younger soldier had been of noble blood, and of course could afford a good education. But he didn’t think Maxim had any interest in writing, He never had to, never seemed to have any inclination to. Not openly anyway, and in the three hundred years since they had met Ognian had never once thought about him writing in secret.   
And he probably wouldn’t be attempting to read now if it hadn’t been something special. This book clasped in his claws was ancient- as old as its owner at least- and looked expensive. Gold leaf and red leather binding wrapped its faded pages with excellent craftsmanship meant for lords. That, and Maxim had been writing extremely secretively.   
Oggie had only witnessed the act because he was wandering to the inn’s washroom after relieving himself outside (it had been a particularly hard night of drinking away this near pointless Heterodyne hunt) and noticed the single candlelight in a moment of clarity. He peered into the room through a large crack between the frame and door, and got a solid view of Maxim noting in this book with an expression of uncharacteristic solemnity. Oggie had watched it all until Maxim tucked it into a hidden pocket in his satchel and doused the light several minutes later.   
And now Ognian had the book while the other two slept, fascinated with it. He wanted to know its secrets. The only problem was… he couldn’t read. The jaeger hadn’t the money for an education when he was a young farmer, and had never been interested enough in his long life to bother. It was an entirely useless skill. Until now.   
The blonde flipped through the book, turning pages mindlessly, having given up on whatever the cover said. He stopped at the beginning, and took note of something unusual. Several pages had been torn out very neatly. His eyebrows quirked upward, and he searched the first remaining page, trying to unlock this mystery. It seemed unimportant, until the top corner caught his eye. It had a date in the corner. There was the month, faded and redone with age, and then two numbers- he could read numbers. ‘7th, 1513’. A full three hundred years ago. An important year. He knew enough of his friend’s history to know that.  
Maxim had joined the army in 1513, having run away from his noble home to escape responsibilities and seek adventure, and join the winning team encroaching on his property’s borders. Only a few weeks later the Heterodyne’s executed their raid and wiped the family and home out. He had not attended or known when it was to happen because he was too busy training. The pretty teen had needed whipping into shape after all. He had been terribly upset by the No Survivors, No Prisoners technique used. Only a year later he took the jaegerdraught, and until now Oggie had assumed that his former life had been the furthest thing from his mind. But this book, from some time not long before he joined them no doubt, said otherwise.  
The format appeared to be a letter. It finally clicked. Ognian smiled triumphantly. This was a letter book, the kind that could be refilled with paper when you finished with its pages. But none had been removed in three hundred years, and it had been refilled anyway- stuffed, practically. The pages were nearly spilling out the sides, and almost every page was filled. Soon there would be no room for new words.   
He returned to the beginning, frowning at it again, before standing. He crept past his fellows and into town, immediately into the only open building- a tavern. Then he approached the bartender quietly.   
The older man looked at him with the familiar mixture of fear and distrust. “Can I help you?”  
“Yez.” Ognian offered him the book. “Ken hyu read dis to me?”   
The man looked around before taking the book. He had no other customers, and some reading was not worth his life. He sighed and nodded. “Sure.” And opened it, beginning. “September seventh, 1513.” His eyebrows jumped. “Dear mother and father-“  
The book was out of his hands and clutched tightly to the monster’s chest before he could go any further. “Thank hyu.” He fled away back to his camp. Oggie put the book away, laid down, and put himself to restless sleep. It was none of his business, this was not for him to read. It was only for the eyes of Maxim’s long deceased parents, waiting to hear from their son on his rebellious decision and, hopefully, whereabouts. It was for their eyes just as much now as it had been when the endless letter was begun, and he did not want to know how it was going to end.


End file.
